In Reply to: Pet fish posted by Elaine on September 16, 2005 at 15:52:55:

I had a pet abalone at Marineland for seven years before it was gone one day. I don't mind spearfishing as long as it's done safely and with respect to the other divers. The spearos who go offshore and hunt a single Yellowtail out of a school are not causing damage to the environment. The ones who get me are those who take a speargun to a nearshore reef where divers frequent and shoot reef fish such as calico bass, sheephead and sculpin. The worst one I ever saw was a guy who shot one of my "friends" at Marineland. A Torpedo ray that used to check me out on nearly half of my dives for a few years ended up in the bed of a pickup. The guy who shot him had the nerve to ask me if it was edible. He said he saw it laying in the sand and couldn't resist such an easy shot. His mahogony speargun "accidently" broke in two that day. :-)